Blue Bridge Battle of the Bands
Semi Final #1
Its hard to believe we are at the semi final stages already in our battle of the bands! This Wednesday marked the first semi and saw the return of Silent Club, Innuendo and Shoebox to Doc Browns. These three bands are all excellent and whoever was the winner tonight deserves to go through as all three are more than worthy to take a place in our final round. We kicked the night and the first semi off with Silent Club.
Silent Club
This band were brilliant in round three of the contest and more than deserved to go through to the semi final. Made up of four local lads - Evan Sladen - Guitar/Vocals, Shaun Harrison - Guitar, Paul Jackson - Bass and Adam Thompson - Drums/Backing Vocals. Silent Club brought along a hoard of supporters tonight and were clearly up for the show! The band overall are tight and play well together, they obviously enjoy what they are doing a great deal which is reflected in their performance.
At times the humour these lads inject into their set is clearly visible - its always great to see bands play that don't take themselves too seriously!
It has to be noted that this performance differed a lot from their previous one in that there was a lot more interraction from all the band members - both vocally and visually - which enhanced the show immensely. A nice touch was Evan leaving the stage and playing right out in front of house along with their supporters. Overall a top notch performance and one which the band should be very proud of.
Innuendo
Next to take to the stage were Innuendo, a five piece rock/alternative band from Middlesbrough who stormed through round four to take this place in the first semi! Innuendo consists of Liam - Vocals, Sean - Vocals, Neil - Bass & Vocals, Deek - Guitar and Konrad - Percussion. Again we were amazed by the amount of people who came along with these guys to offer support - clearly They area very popular local band. What is possibly the most striking thing about Innuendo is that although you cannot fault how well they play together as a band, each member takes an active role in the show and the dynamics of them as a unit are second to none. They harmonise extremely well and overall put across a very entertaining performance.
It must be said that Innuendo have been very supportive of all of the bands in the battle so far by attending many of the qualifying rounds. Altogether a rousing set was put across by these guys which showed how much they deserved this place in our semi final. Their own material is well written, well balanced and very much in keeping with the image of the band. Musically they are a talented bunch and lyrically their own tracks leave many other new bands in the shade. Altogether a very enjoyable band to watch - and to listen too.
Shoebox
Finally tonight we had Shoebox who were the winners of round 2 of the battle. Shoebox are a four piece Indie/Powerpop band from Middlesbrough and over the last few months have been making waves in the local scene. This band play their own material and have quite a unique sound - difficult to put it into any mainstream category. Made up of Sam - Lead vocals / Guitar, Ash - Lead vocals / Lead Guitar, Jonno - Bass & Mark - Drums. Sam and Ash harmonise together brilliantly, Jonno, an outstanding bassist does a great job of linking between the songs and 
Mark is a brilliant stickman often standing out from the rest of the band with his superb drumming.
Again it was noticeable how much this band enjoy their performance and together as a four piece they are a class act. Shoebox put on a great performance to Doctor Browns and to the many supporters they brought along finishing with a cover of Mr Brightside which left the audience shouting for more. A great performance to end the first semi final with.
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The air was tense as we waited for the results to come in from our judges tonight, more pressure on all three of tonights band as this was the final hurdle to getting a place in that final!
We didn't have long to wait though, the final results came in and Shoebox were announced as tonights winners. They go through to the final on July 9th along with the winners of next weeks semi.
